AR/VR and mixed reality will probably have a significant impact on all aspects of our lives even sooner than we expect. Though the AR/VR technologies are at the very beginning of their journey, Sigma Software understands the importance of this trend for the future of society and focuses on the development of the corresponding expertise. We have already developed several AR applications and now we are mastering Microsoft HoloLens.

Nowadays there is a huge trend towards AR/VR. It is hardly surprising, since the virtual and augmented reality industry is forecast to grow thirty times by 2020. Technology adoption surveys revealed users’ positive and broad interest in prospective applications of this technology, including virtual travel, virtual movies and games, home design, and more.

Many companies are looking for the best ways to enter this market, so we already have essayed our powers and gained real-life experience developing solutions for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality.

“Microsoft HoloLens was a long-awaited device, which took the mixed reality market to the new level, giving a huge boost to the whole AR/VR stream. Obviously, we could not stay away from this big milestone in the area. Though we only received the device a few months ago, in September, we already have positive experience creating Microsoft HoloLens solutions,” says Anatoly Kochetov, Head of Microsoft solutions department at Sigma Software. “Since this technology attracted much attention, and every specialist in our big team was excited to try own hand in it, we decided to run a company-wide contest for the best idea for HoloLens application. We received a number of great ideas. One of them, an app called Interio, was designed and presented in October at the largest Ukrainian Hackathon, and managed to enter the list of the finalists.”

Maxim Kovtun, Software Architect at Sigma Software, continues:

“Custom-made apartment planning and design is very popular nowadays as people tend to express their individuality in their living place. As the cost of construction works is high, you’d want to be sure that you will like the result. To provide a customer with the best understanding of the proposed project, designers utilize latest technologies, such as 3D modeling and rendering, but anyway those 3D artifacts are being viewed on a PC screen or printed on paper. With AR technology, we can make a step further and let you “feel the space”. Interio is a solution for interior designers, which allows showing your project as holograms in the space of the premises with the help of Microsoft HoloLens. The solution aims to cover the whole process of planning and supporting the main stages of construction process: measuring existing premises, creating a design project and testing it with a customer, providing architectural/design supervision during construction works.”

“For the past few years, a number of different AR/VR devices have been present on the market. However, they are relatively simple comparing to Microsoft HoloLens. The latter is capable to integrate bright and colorful stereoscopic 3D graphics with real objects around you and is equipped with advanced hardware-accelerated spatial sensing technology to “understand” how the world around looks like and spatial sound to hear the presence of the digital reality,” says Vladimir Beck, Board Member at Sigma Software. “While it is possible to describe the benefits of this technology in words, one must get firsthand experience with it to realize how it can transform businesses and what boundless opportunities it opens. For example, when talking about gaming, Augmented and Mixed reality can increase users’ engagement; aviation and automotive sectors can benefit from the development of remote guidance, etc. We already have experience developing applications for HoloLens. This expertise helps our Customers, who claim to be on the forefront of new technologies and are looking for benefits from new AR/VR tools.”